


Press One For Emotional Validation

by KivaEmber



Series: Persona 5 Oneshots [15]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Aliases, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - No Metaverse (Persona 5), Alternate Universe - No Powers, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, No Smut, Romantic Friendship, Sex Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:01:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25241326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KivaEmber/pseuds/KivaEmber
Summary: “I don’t mind,” Akira said simply, “I mean, listening to you is nice. Otherwise I deal with guys mouth-breathing down the phone or asking for feet pictures, so.”“Feet pictures?”“So many foot fetishists out there,” Akira said, then added impishly, “You want some? I have some very nice photos I keep for these situations. Very artful, very sexy-”“No, thank you,”Crow said dryly,“I’m not a ‘foot guy’.”or;Only Akechi calls up a phone sex operator to rant about his problems, rather than actually using them for, you know,sex.
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Amamiya Ren, Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist
Series: Persona 5 Oneshots [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2101845
Comments: 19
Kudos: 667
Collections: Quality Persona Fics





	Press One For Emotional Validation

If asked about his evening job, Akira would say he worked in a call centre. 

Not quite a lie, it was, technically, true. 

It was just that this ‘call centre’ was in his bedroom, between the hours of midnight and four in the morning, three times a week and on a work-issued mobile phone. This call centre also involved a very intimate kind of customer service that enlightened Akira to the stranger side of fetishes and attraction. It was hard work, but it paid well enough and when it came to surviving college with little parental support? Well, Akira wasn’t going to let pride get in the way of easy money. 

And it was really easy money. 

Especially when _he_ called up. 

* * *

“Evening~” Akira purred, silently flicking a page of his textbook. He had long since mastered the art of listening and reading at the same time, “How can Renren serve you tonight, master~?”

_“It’s Crow.”_

“Oh, hey!” Akira dropped the act immediately, marking his place in his textbook and closing it, “How’s it going, Crow?”

A deep, soulful sigh crackled over the phone, and Akira grinned, settling against the pillows of his bed and relaxing. 

Crow was a very unique client. He wasn’t interested in dirty talk or mutual masturbation or praising - oh, no, no, no. Crow called for one very specific reason: to rant. To vomit all of his frustrations and pent up rage onto Akira in lieu of, like, someone actually trained to handle all of that, and stayed on the line for well over an hour, letting Akira have a pretty hefty bonus when the monthly hours get tallied up. Crow was practically single-handedly paying Akira’s wages at this point. 

He was also someone Akira actually knew in real life, though it seemed Crow hadn’t cottoned on. 

Crow, as per usual, launched into his rant: he had very little time to himself, juggling between his university work and his internship (he was working hard to become a detective), the frustrations of having a piece of shit father who only saw him as a prop or commodity to be used and abused (his father was a well known and popular high-ranking politician who, according to Crow, was _extremely_ foul in his private affairs), and the exhaustion of being hounded by media and fans alike because of the aforementioned father practically building him up to idol status. 

Yeah, it really wasn’t hard to guess Crow’s identity. Akira just had a bonus of already knowing him personally. 

“You know,” Akira said when Crow paused to breathe, “You sound _incredibly_ repressed. You bottling all this rage up outside of our time together?”

 _“Unfortunately,”_ Crow groaned, _“Any crack in composure has my_ **_piece of shit father_ ** _riding my ass around the Diet Building.”_

Ew, gross mental image. 

“Ew,” Akira let out. 

Crow laughed at that - it was a pretty laugh, at odds with the rough, near growling voice he took when he was ranting. 

_“I do feel better now, though,”_ Crow said once his laughter subsided, _“Our talks together somehow keep me sane.”_

“And keeps me fed,” Akira joked lightly, “Seriously, I think you’re paying for most of my commissions at this point.”

Crow paused at that, and his tone sounded a little… shy? Uncertain? Whatever it was, it was a cute one; _“Do you mind that? I know these talks are outside of your usual job description.”_

“I don’t mind,” Akira said simply, “I mean, listening to you is nice. Otherwise I deal with guys mouth-breathing down the phone or asking for feet pictures, so.”

_“Feet pictures?”_

“So many foot fetishists out there,” Akira said, then added impishly, “You want some? I have some very nice photos I keep for these situations. Very artful, very sexy-”

 _“No, thank you,”_ Crow said dryly, _“I’m not a ‘foot guy’.”_

“What kind of guy are you?” Akira asked, “You know, we have all these talks and I still don’t know what your sex deal is, man.”

_“You really want to know?”_

“I’m dying of curiosity,” Akira deadpanned, “It takes a certain kind of guy to call up a sex worker and not do anything sexual, y’know?”

There was a very long pause. Long enough that Akira thought Crow was going to change the subject. He had noticed that his client skirted around the topic of ‘sex’, usually shut down any line of conversation that shifted in that direction, so Akira’s question had mostly been in jest. In all honesty, he assumed Crow was asexual or just not plain interested, which was fine. 

So, colour him surprised when Crow finally muttered; _“I like… men.”_

Oh? _Ooooooh????_

“Oh?” Akira kept his tone light and gently encouraging, “I’m guessing this is something your father doesn’t approve of.”

 _“No,”_ Crow’s voice dripped with bitterness, _“I’m his bastard child, which is already a black mark against myself. He has managed to spin that positively for the mindless masses, showing off his_ **_generosity_ ** _for taking me in and giving me_ **_opportunities_ ** _. But, to then come out as having a preference for men? Publicly? I’ll be another nail to hammer down.”_

Akira drew an idle pattern on his bedspread, thinking to Crow’s public persona. It made sense now, why he leant hard into the idol-like role his father nudged him into. Idols tended to convey a sense of celibacy, of being ‘pure’ and untouchable. An easy mask to hide behind when his preferences were considered ‘deviant’ to society. 

“How about privately?” Akira asked. 

Crow scoffed; _“That will be a disaster. I can’t trust a single soul to keep my preference a secret if I tried…”_ he faltered, then continued in a far quieter tone, _“You are the only one I have told, Renren.”_

“I see…”

 _“I… understand, your line of work,”_ Crow continued in that same quiet tone, _“My mother used to, well- it was how I was conceived. So.”_

Wow. This was a lot more than Akira normally got. It explained a lot of things, though. 

_“And, of course, we don’t know each other in real life,”_ Crow continued, garnering a guilty wince from Akira, _“So there is a level of safety, in this.”_

“I mean, you’re calling a gay phone sex operator,” Akira said bluntly, “If anyone found that out…”

 _“Hn, like I am using my own damn phone for this,”_ Crow snorted, _“Don’t be silly.”_

Akira tapped his fingers against his bedspread, considering. 

“Hey,” he said after a comfortable pause, “Do you want to vent?”

_“Haven’t… I done that already?”_

“No, I mean _sexually,_ ” Akira said, “You like guys, but you’re too worried to indulge in that in real life, so, why not use me? You’re probably really sexually frustrated on top of everything else, I’m guessing, and I don’t mind lending a hand.”

 _“I...”_ Crow sounded uncomfortable, _“I’m not sure.”_

“It’s up to you,” Akira said, immediately backing off, “I know phone sex isn’t some people’s thing.”

Crow was quiet for a long moment. 

_“I’ll… think about it,”_ he said, _“But I am content with just this.”_

“Me too,” Akira said, just so Crow didn’t think he was pressuring him otherwise, “I just want to help you out, y’know? I feel like we’re friends at this point.”

_“Friends?”_

“Yeah! We talk to each other about our days, rant about shitty parents, we know each other’s secrets, kind of…”

_“We use aliases instead of our real names.”_

“So do internet friendships, and those aren’t any less than real life ones,” Akira pointed out. He had that rant from Futaba enough times to rattle it off, “Unless, you know, I mean, I am a sex worker so, I get it if you don’t want to be friends.”

 _“No, no, that’s not-”_ Crow groaned, _“You manipulative little-”_

“Haha, I got you for a second.”

 _“Bastard,”_ Crow growled, but it had no heat, _“I wonder what it says about me, that my closest friend is a sex worker using a fake name like ‘Renren’.”_

“Hey, Renren is _cute_ ,” Akira adopted a simpering, cutesy tone, “You’re making me sad, _master~”_

 _“Urgh,”_ Akira could practically _feel_ the full body shiver coming from Crow, _“Don’t. Do that.”_

Akira laughed at the raw _disgust_ dripping over the line, “Sorry! I couldn’t resist!”

Crow sighed.

 _“Renren,”_ Crow said, and paused, then made a small noise. Akira patiently waited, _“If I asked… for your real name, would you give it to me?”_

Oh. Shit. 

Akira bit his bottom lip, stuffing down the bolt of panic. If Crow learned his real name, Akira wasn’t sure how he’d take it. At least he knew Akira could keep secrets? Or maybe he could pretend not to have recognised him despite the very identifying hints Crow kept dropping on him during his rants? Either way, it would shatter this pleasant, comforting peace they had, bringing uncertain change in its wake. Scary.

“...yeah, I would,” Akira said after a too long pause, “If you give me yours?”

Crow made a short noise at that, _“Ah, maybe not yet.”_

“Then, when we both feel ready,” Akira said slowly, an idea forming, “We can tell each other our names, real names, and maybe…”

_“Maybe…?”_

“We can meet in real life?” Akira drummed a nervous beat on his bed spread, “And, maybe, you can trust in me to…”

He let the sentence hang between them, his heart thumping high in his throat. Crow was very, very, very _quiet._

 _“That is…”_ Crow suddenly laughed, disbelieving, _“Renren, are you asking if I would want to date you?”_

Oof, Akira did not like feeling nervous. On the phone with clients, he exuded confidence, because a script was always followed and his clients left satisfied. It was easy, distant, no emotions involved - but with Crow it was different, and putting himself out like this was - sweaty palms, flushed cheeks and a twisting stomach. 

“If… that’s fine?” Akira murmured, not even faking the uncertainty in his voice, “You can say no, of course. We can be just friends.”

 _“I can only imagine the look on my father’s face if he learned I was dating a phone sex operator,”_ Crow said, sounding breathless at the very idea, _“A_ **_gay_ ** _phone sex operator.”_

“You make it sound so _deviant.”_

 _“It is,”_ Crow said, but without judgement. He paused, then, _“When we both feel ready to reveal our true names to each other, we can meet in real life. And-”_

He stopped. 

Akira bit his bit to stop himself from prompting him, his belly a knot of nerves. 

_“Why not?”_ Crow muttered half to himself, _“At that point you could ruin me whenever you wanted, knowing what you do. Why not?”_

“Yeah, why not?” Akira grinned fiercely, his nerves blossoming into excitement, “We can keep it private too. It comes with my job, you know.”

 _“I know,”_ Crow said with dark amusement, _“Very well, then, Renren. It’s a deal.”_

“It’s a deal,” Akira echoed, “I’ll wait for you as long as it takes, Crow.” 

_“Don’t get too romantic now,”_ Crow drawled, _“You’ll scare me off.”_

“Fine, fine. I’ll stay _professional._ ”

Crow laughed, that soft, pretty laugh that always made Akira smile at achieving. 

But that laugh transitioned into a yawn, and Crow sighed as he presumably checked the time. _“Three in the morning… I didn’t realise how long we were talking.”_

“As always,” Akira quipped, “I have an hour left of my shift still, unless you need to go to sleep?”

 _“I have morning class,”_ Crow admitted reluctantly, _“And a promised meet up with a classmate.”_

Oh, right, Akira almost forgot about his ‘coffee date’ with Akechi. Thanks for the reminder, Crow. 

“Then don’t let me keep you up,” Akira said brightly, “Sweet dreams, _master~”_

_“Ugh, please stop doing that.”_

Akira laughed, and bade him a proper goodnight. He got a sleepy one in return, and the call disconnected. Akira reopened his textbook, determined to finish his assigned reading before morning class, and waited for a last minute call for his final hour. 

He was both dreading and anticipating the day Crow decided to exchange true names. But, he’ll have faith. He has, at the very least, proven himself trustworthy in keeping secrets, even from Akechi himself. 

“Hopefully, he won’t be too mad,” Akira murmured to himself, and flipped another page of his book. 

**Author's Note:**

> can you believe this started as a dumb joke idea and it became this. amazing.


End file.
